Chapter 460: Battles Of Masters (3)
Translator: TYZ Editor: TYZ, KLKL
The meditation room lit up and darkened at random.
A dark-green sword was engulfed by countless streaks of lightning that resembled numerous long and slim, silvery water plants. Suddenly, a lightning arc that was as thick as a thumb extended from the sword towards the depths of the darkness, illuminating more than half of the room.
His face was clearly defined when the flickering light shone on it. His firm and sharp nose and his brow ridge were flickering with silvery lines. In the darkness, his lips merely appeared as a faintly discernible, cold line, resembling the distant horizon of the wilderness in the night.
Within his eyes, there was a dark, deep lake that contained the reflection of a starry sky.
The reflection of the starry sky was staring at the sword in front of it.
Placed perfectly upright, the blade of the sword happened to split his field of vision exactly in half, resembling an abyss-surrounded, narrow pathway that led to the depths of an unfathomable darkness.
The streaks of lightning on the sword had filled this path with thistles, thorns and swords.
As he stared at the lightning streaks, the sword and the darkness, his breathing remained slow and steady without a single sign of trembling.
I should not be distracted when trekking along a precipitous path. I have to endure the agony of walking through a path that is filled with thistles and thorns. I should not leave empty-handed when walking through a path that is lined with swords. In the darkness, as long as I can slay my enemy, there’s no need for me to care whether or not there is light.
Yes, this is the way.
Lightning erupted from the sword and his palms felt an intense pain, as if numerous needles had sprouted out from the hilt of his sword. Even so, he tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword. Ai Hui’s face remained indifferent as usual. His goal wasn’t based on a sudden impulse.
He’d set this goal a long time ago and it had never changed.
The path to power always came with agony.
The elemental energy in Ai Hui’s body was undergoing drastic changes. They were remodelling.
In the Cultivation Era, lightning was the most dominant power. It was also one of the powers that had an extensive range of applications. Almost every sect had its own lightning-related techniques. However, when it came to the Elemental Era, where spiritual force disintegrated and elemental energy prospered, lightning became a forgotten power. People only knew of it as the wrath of nature, and that it lived in the depths of the sky and clouds.
Before Ai Hui, there were countless elementalists that had tried to harness the power of lightning but ultimately failed to do so. Ai Hui was mainly inspired by the artifact remnants in Dragonspine Inferno and [Dust Fall].
The artifact remnants within Dragonspine Inferno contained an ancient seal. It was a lightning seal that was left behind from the Cultivation Era. At that time, Ai Hui used the blood crystal to activate the lightning seal.
It wasn’t until the Battle of Long Street that he used [Dust Fall].
If one compared the lightning seal to a one-thousand-year-old rusty lock, then [Dust Fall] would be the key to that lock.
[Dust Fall] was one of the three moves in the sword pill.
When Wang Shouchuan gave the sword pill to Ai Hui back in the day, he definitely never thought that the tiny sword pill would have such a deep impact on Ai Hui’s life.
[Crescent Moon] gave rise to [Six Moons], which became one of Ai Hui’s most used moves. [Dust Fall] became one of the driving forces that gave rise to Ai Hui’s Path of Master. [Night Epiphyllum] was used to end his master’s life, leaving a deep and painful scar in his heart. Ai Hui had told himself never to use [Night Epiphyllum] in his life again.
Were these events his fate?
One by one, the elemental energy sword pills in his body shattered. More and more lightning streaks were produced. Their thickness increased continuously as well.
Ai Hui’s lightning-tempered flesh began to spasm and tremble at this moment. The lightning streaks were far too powerful, even the flesh at the innermost part of his body was affected.
The lightning streaks became increasingly stronger while his flesh trembled more and more violently. Not only was Ai Hui’s body being tempered by the lightning, it was acclimatizing to the lightning as well. His body had to acclimatize to the lightning, otherwise, it would disintegrate.
Luckily, he was metal-attributed.
This was the only thing that Ai Hui was glad about.
Ai Hui controlled his breathing and maintained its stability. He imagined himself as a sword, a metal sword that was being forged in a lightning-filled smelting furnace.
More and more elemental energy sword pills were shattered. Like a surging, silvery river of lightning lava, the lightning streaks flowed through his body with the Circulatory Revolution Cycle. They flowed very slowly and everywhere they passed through was destroyed thoroughly.
Ai Hui was the first person to experience the destructive aura of the lightning streaks before his enemies could. His body was shivering involuntarily. He wanted to bellow in rage and howl in agony but he couldn’t make any sound.
He had anticipated the agony and decided to endure it. However, when the moment finally came, he still wailed, moaned and shivered in pain. These were unavoidable.
He had neither a strong faith nor a grand ambition. At this point of time, he only had an instinct, the instinct to survive.
His mind was blank and his body was out of control. He had not choice but to be brave and endure whatever was coming his way.
Frantic elemental energy gushed towards Ai Hui. The glow from the surrounding walls began to flicker frantically. Long shadows were being pulled out from them and absorbed by Ai Hui’s body. This phenomenon was caused by the gradual disintegration of the seal on the walls due to a strong suction force.
The earth elemental energy beneath Ai Hui’s feet was frantically gushing towards Ai Hui. A brown-colored earth elemental ring appeared beneath Ai Hui’s feet. The inside of the earth elemental ring gradually became silver-colored. Earth engendered metal. The newly converted metal elemental energy quickly rushed into Ai Hui’s body, but it was still not enough.
At this point of time, Ai Hui’s body was like an insatiable and avaricious beast. The elemental energy that it had just devoured was insignificant and insufficient.
Very soon, the perimeter of the earth elemental ring began to expand continuously and became scarlet in color. The temperature of the meditation room started to increase as well. The scarlet ring kept on expanding and became a fire elemental ring. Fire engendered earth.
Now, the metal elemental energy in his body had surpassed the limit of his previous elemental energy capacity. The lightning streaks flowing in the elemental energy within his body became increasingly concentrated.
The first one to sense Ai Hui’s abnormality was Venerable Volcano.
He realized a portion of the earth fire had been involuntarily channeled to a particular place. To his surprise, that place was the underground meditation room. Initially, he was shocked. However, very soon, his shock became ecstasy. He did not expect Ai Hui to attain a breakthrough at this critical moment.
If Ai Hui could become a Master, they would have one more Master on their side and their chances of winning this battle would greatly increase.
Immediately, Venerable Volcano increased the intensity of his offense.
Mister Dou was able to sense Venerable Volcano’s action very quickly.
Ahh, Venerable Volcano is fighting with all his might…
Mister Dou quickly retaliated with increased intensity as well.
A chain reaction set off and the overall intensity of the ongoing battles increased.
The fierce, ongoing battles concealed some fine details.
Qiao Meiqi, Gong Peiyao and those who lacked fighting capabilities were waiting at the entrance of the underground meditation room. The atmosphere was very tense and everyone was feeling nervous. Explosions from above the ground’s surface fell incessantly on their ears and the ground kept one trembling violently.
The pumpkin lamps in the basement kept swaying, looking as if they would fall any moment.
Qiao Meiqi was feeling vexed. Clearwater City was his baby and his home. After this battle, even if they won, Clearwater City would be badly damaged. One could imagine how he felt when he saw his baby being harmed continuously. Furthermore, he had placed all his fortune on building Clearwater City.
Gong Peiyao’s face was slightly pale as well. However, she was still able to console Qiao Meiqi, "Uncle Qiao, don’t worry, my father definitely will not treat your situation with indifference. The Qiao family and Gong family have been on good terms for so many generations, we will definitely help you out."
Qiao Meiqi gave a bitter smile. He did not want to be consoled by a small girl and gritted his teeth and replied, "Don’t worry, Uncle Qiao will not be defeated so easily! It’s no wonder why all the enterprises previously faced obstructions in obtaining the resources that Ai Hui needs. The Assembly of Patriarchs was creating trouble in the dark! Assembly of Patriarchs, I will definitely seek revenge on you!"
"It’s a pity you’ll no longer have the chance to do so."
Suddenly, a sweet and gentle voice rang across the air from a corner in the darkness.
With a drastic change in his facial expression, Qiao Meiqi roared, "Who’s that?"
A multi-colored doll slowly emerged from the ground.
The colorful King wasn’t looking at Qiao Meiqi. Its flat, eyeless and noseless face was looking at Gong Peiyao who was standing behind Qiao Meiqi. Suddenly, its stitch-made mouth split apart, "Miss Gong, Older Sister has been looking for you for a very long time. Don’t worry, Older Sister can’t bear to hurt you. Come and stay with Older Sister for a few days."
When a lovely and delicate voice came out of the sinister-looking doll’s mouth, everyone felt a cold shiver go down their spines.
Gong Peiyao’s face turned white as she raised her head abruptly and asked, "Are all of you here for me?"
The stitch-made mouth of the doll opened and closed as it replied, "Hehe, Older Sister will never let off such a good thing like the snow lava. Recently, I’ve become quite poor."
Qiao Meiqi was a businessman who had been through vicissitudes of fortune. At this moment, he had already regained his composure. With a deep voice, he replied, "What does the Assembly of Patriarchs want? Do you want to deal with Madam Ye? An enemy of my enemy is my friend. No problem, I can agree on behalf of the Gong residence. There’s no need for you to resort to such a method to obtain the snow lava. We can prevent any misunderstandings from happening between the Assembly of Patriarchs and the Gong residence."
The Assembly of Patriarchs’ long-term partner, Madam Ye, had dealt a huge blow to them. Even their headquarters had been annihilated, causing them to sustain huge losses. The first time Qiao Meiqi obtained this news, he had a premonition. Could it be that Assembly of Patriarchs wanted to kidnap Gong Peiyao and pressure the Gong residence into confronting Madam Ye?
No matter what, Qiao Meiqi couldn’t let anything happen to Gong Peiyao here. He and Gong Peiyao’s father were lifelong buddies and he treated Gong Peiyao like his own niece.
"Don’t worry, as long as all of you cooperate with me obediently, I won’t hurt you."
The sweet and delicate voice sounded unusually pleasant as it gave off elemental energy undulations silently. A blank look appeared on the faces of Qiao Meiqi and the rest.
Inside the meditation room, Ai Hui’s body suddenly trembled.
His elemental energy, which contained a boundless amount of lightning streaks, flooded into his sky palace.
The hovering Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp in Ai Hui’s sky palace sensed a danger and its glow intensified. It began to revolve quickly, giving off a high intensity glow.
However, even so, the Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp was exceptionally weak and incompetent against the flood of lightning streaks that were filled with a destructive aura.
The glow from the Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp managed to withstand the flood of lightning streaks for only a short moment. Then, the flood of lightning streaks devoured the Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp with a loud bang, resembling the sound of an air bubble being punctured. The Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp vanished in a puff of smoke and had ceased to exist.
At this point of time, Ai Hui, who had been struggling strenuously all this time, managed to obtain a moment of clarity.
He laughed bitterly in his heart. His elemental energy sword pills were gone and his Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp had disappeared as well. It was a fresh start for him.
In the next moment, his consciousness was flooded.
After devouring the Skyheart Flaming Lotus Lamp, the turbulent flood of lightning streaks strengthened significantly. The metal elemental energy that was mixed with lightning in his sky palace became even more vigorous.
Furthermore, there seemed to be something forming in both of Ai Hui’s hand palaces and his earth palace.
As usual, the boundless, impure elemental energy flowed through the path that it was most familiar with and headed towards the most unique area of Ai Hui’s sword-style breathing technique.
His sword.
In the darkness, the glow of Wintry Jade Blade suddenly intensified as a lightning snake, the thickness of an arm, coiled around it.
Wintry Jade Blade chimed.
It was completely different from Ai Hui’s previous clear and melodious sword chime.
It was loud and thunderous, resembling a muffled thunderclap that sounded off in the depths of the clouds.
Ai Hui woke up. Lightning streaks were reflected in his clear and limpid eyes, resembling lightning bolts that streaked across a cloudless and starry night sky.
A terrifying aura erupted from his body abruptly.
The meditation room’s wall, where its elemental energy had been completely devoured, exploded outwards with a loud bang.